Golf club head

ABSTRACT

A golf club head includes a main body and a plate member disposed on the main body. The plate member includes a plurality of carbon fiber layers which are stacked on each other and are impregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin containing carbon nanotubes. The carbon nanotubes are present in an amount ranging from 0.01 wt% to 5 wt%, based on the total weight of the thermoset carbon fiber resin.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority of Taiwanese Invention PatentApplication No. 110119669, filed on May 31, 2021.

FIELD

The disclosure relates to a ball equipment, more particularly to a golfclub head.

BACKGROUND

A traditional all-metal golf club head has advantages such as having astrong structure and producing a loud hitting sound, but it also has adisadvantage such as having a heavy overall weight. In order to overcomethe shortcomings in weight, there are many golf club heads whose crownor sole are made of a thermoset carbon fiber composite material. Sincethe thermoset carbon fiber composite material has the characteristics oflight weight and strong structure, it can reduce the weight of a golfclub head, and can produce a special visual effect of carbon fibertexture. However, the thermoset carbon fiber composite material mightcause the hitting sound to be low and not solid.

In recent trend, it is desirable to use a thermoplastic carbon fibercomposite material to make the crown or sole of a golf club head, andthe golf club head thus produced might improve the problem of poorhitting sound. However, the use of the thermoplastic carbon fibercomposite material might result in a high production cost.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a golfclub head that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the priorart. The golf club head includes:

a main body; and

a plate member disposed on the main body, the plate member including aplurality of carbon fiber layers which are stacked on each other and areimpregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin containing carbonnanotubes, the carbon nanotubes being present in an amount ranging from0.01 wt% to 5 wt%, based on a total weight of the thermoset carbon fiberresin.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent inthe following detailed description of the embodiments with reference tothe accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a first embodiment of a golfclub head according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a structure of aplate member of the first embodiment; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating a second embodiment of the golfclub head according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 2 , a first embodiment of a golf club headaccording to the present disclosure includes a main body 1 and a platemember 2 disposed on the main body 1.

The plate member 2 includes a plurality of carbon fiber layers 22 whichare stacked on one another and are impregnated with a thermoset carbonfiber resin 21 containing carbon nanotubes. The plate member 2 is madeby subjecting the carbon fiber layers 22 to a hot press process andsubsequently conducting hardening. A thickness of the plate member 2ranges from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm.

The carbon fiber layers 22 may be selected from the group consisting ofunidirectional carbon fiber fabrics and 3K carbon fiber fabrics.

The thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 may be an epoxy resin. Based on thetotal weight of the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21, the carbonnanotubes may be present in an amount ranging from 0.01 wt% to 5 wt%.

In this embodiment, the plate member 2 is configured to be a crown ofthe golf club head.

FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the golf club head accordingto the present disclosure. The second embodiment differs from the firstembodiment in that the plate member 2 is configured to be a sole of thegolf club head.

By virtue of the carbon nanotubes having a higher quality factor (i.e.,Q Factor), the plate member 2 can produce a loud and clear hittingsound. In addition, the production cost of the carbon nanotubes is lowerthan that of the thermoplastic carbon fiber composite material. Thus,the golf club head according to the present disclosure can exhibit theadvantages of both producing a loud and clear hitting sound and having alow production cost.

The disclosure will be further described by way of the followingexamples. However, it should be understood that the following examplesare solely intended for the purpose of illustration and should not beconstrued as limiting the disclosure in practice.

EXAMPLES

To produce a respective one of three exemplary golf club heads accordingto the present disclosure (i.e., examples 1 to 3), a thermoset carbonfiber resin 21 was prepared using the corresponding carbon nanotubecontent shown in Table 1. Each of examples 1 to 3 was subjected tomeasurement of the frequency of hitting sound using technologywell-known to those skilled in the art.

In addition, two conventional golf club heads (i.e., comparativeexamples 1 to 2) were subjected to the same measurement. Specifically,comparative example 1 was an all-metal golf club head, and comparativeexample 2 was a golf club head that had a crown made of a thermosetcarbon fiber composite material without carbon nanotubes.

As shown in Table 1 below, the frequency of hitting sound determined foreach of examples 1 to 3 was higher than that determined for comparativeexample 2, and was lower than that determined for comparative example 1to an acceptable extent. These results indicate that by virtue of thecarbon nanotubes having a high Q Factor, the hitting sound of the golfclub head can be improved. Moreover, the cost of the carbon nanotubes islower than that of the thermoplastic carbon fiber composite material,effectively reducing the overall production cost.

In particular, the applicant had the following finding (data not shown).When the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 contained greater than 5 wt% ofthe carbon nanotubes based on the total weight of the thermoset carbonfiber resin 21, the overall fluidity of the thermoset carbon fiber resin21 was decreased.

Therefore, some regions of the carbon fiber layers 22 were notimpregnated with the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21, resulting in a dryfiber phenomenon and difficulty to form the plate member 2. Accordingly,it is more satisfactory that the upper limit of the content of thecarbon nanotubes in the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 is 5 wt%.

TABLE 1 Carbon nanotube Frequency of content (wt %) hitting sound (Hz)Example 1 0.1 4,272 Example 2 0.5 4,036 Example 3 4 4,015 Comparative 04,365 Example 1 Comparative 0 3,887 Example 2

To sum up, by virtue of the plate member 2 including a plurality of thecarbon fiber layers 22 which are stacked on each other and areimpregnated with the thermoset carbon fiber resin 21 containing 0.01 wt%to 5 wt% of the carbon nanotubes, the golf club head of the presentdisclosure can exhibit the advantages of producing a loud and clearhitting sound and having a low production cost.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details have been set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the embodiment(s). It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art, that one or more other embodiments may be practicedwithout some of these specific details. It should also be appreciatedthat reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “anembodiment,” an embodiment with an indication of an ordinal number andso forth means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristicmay be included in the practice of the disclosure. It should be furtherappreciated that in the description, various features are sometimesgrouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereoffor the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in theunderstanding of various inventive aspects, and that one or morefeatures or specific details from one embodiment may be practicedtogether with one or more features or specific details from anotherembodiment, where appropriate, in the practice of the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been described in connection with what areconsidered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that thisdisclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intendedto cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope ofthe broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modificationsand equivalent arrangements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A golf club head, comprising: a main body; and aplate member disposed on the main body, said plate member including aplurality of carbon fiber layers which are stacked on each other and areimpregnated with a thermoset carbon fiber resin containing carbonnanotubes, said carbon nanotubes being present in an amount ranging from0.01 wt% to 5 wt %, based on a total weight of said thermoset carbonfiber resin.
 2. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein saidplate member has a thickness ranging from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm.
 3. The golfclub head according to claim 1, wherein said carbon fiber layers of saidplate member are selected from the group consisting of unidirectionalcarbon fiber fabrics and 3K carbon fiber fabrics.
 4. The golf club headaccording to claim 1, wherein said thermoset carbon fiber resin is anepoxy resin.
 5. The golf club head according to claim 1, wherein saidplate member is configured to be a crown or a sole of said gold clubhead.